Leo didn’t need to tell them to move– if Don was already busting himself out they’d be there to back him up. It was a no brainer.
April threw Donnie’s laptop back into her bag and followed the turtles across the rooftops towards the wailing siren and the looming building. Leo stopped them when they got to the next building over and they silently dropped down the fire escape to the streets in tandem. April could tell by Leo’s hard stop as he got to the edge of the alleyway that things weren’t exactly as they were hoping (Donnie busting through creepy government goons).
“Holy–” Leo breathed out, only for Mikey to shove forward with his hands to his mouth.
“DON! Where ya’ at!?” their youngest hollered, giving April flashbacks to her short stint of hanging onto Karai’s spirit. Luckily for them all, Raph was already on top of it, grabbing up Mikey and smothering the yell.
“Shh! Shh–” he hissed, even as Mikey flailed a bit in his grasp. Once he’d settled enough, Raph released him so that they could all process… whatever mess was happening in front of them.
This had probably been a garage. The rows of overturned trucks bearing the EPF logo were a good hint. The gaping hole in the garage door told some sort of story, but no one really had a good idea what story it was telling. Because it certainly didn’t look like anything Donnie’s ninpo would’ve done. It was too… messy.
There were agents on the pavement. There was blood, and bullet holes and wreckage that evoked more monster movie than ninja breakout. Mikey was the first to break the hanging silence that had chills creeping up the backs of their necks. “Did… What happened? Did Donnie do this?”
April was the next to snap out of it, gritting her teeth into a vicious smile. “I can find out!” she volunteered, shoving the boys aside before they could talk her out of it. She was the human here, and that meant she could hypothetically waltz into the weird government building without getting dissected. It was really her duty if you squinted, so... “APRIIIIIIIL O’NEIL! Undercover baby!”
“Wait April–” Leo started, trying to grab for her just a moment too late. She was already in range of where the cameras would see her, so the boys couldn’t follow without being giant idiots. Leo grimaced, dropping his hand defeatedly. “Aaaand she’s gone. Awesome.”
April intentionally ignored Leo calling out for her as she bolted for the gaping hole in the garage door. Metal was bent outward in twisted ribbons, hanging over her head as she stepped over the remains of the base of it. There was a smouldering fire in the corner, singing the hallway it framed. There were more people in view now that April was up close. Bodies slung against cars or walls, crumpled like ragdolls and bloodstains only partially hidden by the dark clothes they wore. Shattered glass sparkling against the blacktop of the parking lot.
April swallowed down whatever feeling was gripping her lungs and put her hands to her mouth. “HEY! Anyone alive?! What happened here!?” she shouted out, stepping carefully around the mangled bits of the nearest car and moving further inside.
Behind it, something moved, stuttering back to life. “Get– Get outta here–” choked out a voice. A man, April recognized immediately, as she moved the rest of the way around the car. An agent in vaguely torn up gear was laying underneath a discarded car door. He stared at her from behind the visor of his helmet, and even then April could tell he looked frantic. “It’s– It’s not safe, you gotta go, kid–”
April dropped down and hauled the car door off of his body, letting it fall to the side with a crunch. “Who do I call!? What happened– Is– is this another invasion!?” she asked, letting panic bleed into her voice. Panic that she didn’t really feel. But hopefully he wouldn’t notice that it was faux, that she was digging for information to be confirmed.
Thankfully, this dude was far too concussed to question if she was being genuine. “Monster– some turtle creature thing busted out– Listen kid, get out of here, go home. It’s loose, it let everything out–”
“That’s quite enough, agent,” a new voice snapped. Like ice cracking. Like being plunged into shadows. April had to force herself to move enough to see who this new voice belonged to. The man’s expression softened incrementally, but it didn’t do anything to soften the intense air he carried with him. “You’ll scare her.”
Despite the jagged, bloody tear in his pant leg, he walked smoothly across the garage with his arms held stiffly behind him. There was nothing remarkable about this man. He was plain, with a pristine black suit (other than the tear) and tie. And yet, April found her voice caught in her throat. His gaze, covered by a pair of thin sunglasses, felt like being pinned by a predator.
April stared at him as he came to stand in front of her. He tried to make himself seem friendly, but the hairs standing on the back of April's neck screamed at her to run. The man cast a glance at the hole in the garage door before nodding at April. “I’d ask how you got in here, but that one is obvious. Instead, let’s just make sure you get home safely, alright?”
April felt herself take a half step backwards. “I uh– My brothers are out on the street, I’m alright to just walk back–” she said, forcing herself to smile.
The man stared at her blankly. “Really, I insist. This area is compromised," he replied simply, like it was just common sense. And to be fair, that would be reasonable if April didn’t feel like staying near this guy was the fastest track to get herself or her brothers arrested. Or worse. “We should get you all home–”
“No, really,” April said again, backing towards the garage door and motioning emphatically. “We’ll be fine, we’ll go straight home.”
The man's next argument was interrupted by some creature scrabbling its way out of the no longer burned hallway. They both watched as the vaguely dinosaur-shaped creature was shot down with tranq darts, and a couple agents came jogging out of the hall after it. The man let out a subtle sigh. “...Alright. I trust you’ll keep all this to yourself? We wouldn’t want to cause a panic. We have this well in hand,” he said, and despite the smile he maintained April could feel the threat in his next words. “We can’t have rumors spreading, you know.” We’ll find you.
April set her jaw and nodded along. “Yeah, right. Of course. We don’t want anything crazy happenin’ like last year…” she said, tip-toeing along the wrecked car so she could get outta there as soon as possible.
He made no move to stop her. Just watched, looking smugly at her like he’d already won. “That's right. Miss…?”
April tripped over her own feet a little bit. “Uh– Summer. My name’s Summer.”
If he suspected she was lying, it didn’t show at all. “Thank you, Miss Summer. We’ll handle everything. This kind of situation is exactly what the Earth Protection Force is here for. Run along now,” he said, dismissing her and turning his back to her so he could deal with both his dinosaur and the bleeding agent on the ground.
The instant his eyes were off her felt like a release. April turned and bolted for the garage door, not stopping as she leapt over the threshold.
The man turned his head enough to watch her retreat, his expression going cold again. And once she was out of earshot he put a finger to his earpiece. “Pull all the footage we have of that girl immediately. Find out who she is. And get maintenance and med evac down here already! This mess won’t clean itself.”
The electric blue of Leo’s portal flooded the lairs' living room, partially obscuring the projection screen as April and the boys returned home. Splinter sat up in his armchair, taking a quick headcount and frowning when it came up one turtle short. “Boys! Where is Purple?” he asked. “You were going to get him, weren’t you?”
Leo let the portal close and sheathed his swords before crossing his arms with a proud smirk. “He wasn’t there! Looks like he busted himself out already,” he said brightly. “He’ll probably be home soon to brag about it.”
April rubbed her face a little bit, glancing at Leo. “I dunno Leo, I know you guys ain’t everyone's cup of tea but calling Dee a monster seems kinda… off brand. Plus it was major weird vibes in that place,” she protested, drifting further into the room to take a seat and steeple her fingers.
Raph and Mikey found places to sit or hover as Leo blew a raspberry and rolled his eyes. “You clearly haven’t tried to get between Donnie in a bad mood and something he wants–”
Mikey put his hands up, placatingly. “I think we’ve all been bitten by Donnie enough to know what he gets like when he’s freakin’, Leo,” he said flatly.
Raph nodded along, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Name callin’ aside, they said it was a turtle, right? It’s probably Dee,” he agreed with Leo.
April sighed into her hands. “They just said it was a turtle monster. That’s all I got.”
Mikey glanced around the room meaningfully. “Okay, then… where’s he at?”
Leo took out his phone and opened Donnie’s tracking app. He frowned at it. “I don’t know. His tracker’s still not working,” he admitted, the confidence in his voice waning a bit.
Raph was quick to slap his shoulder and grin. “Well, if it was him escapin’, then he’ll be home soon. Mike, go rustle up something Donnie’ll eat and we’ll figure out the specifics when he gets here.”
Mikey relented easily, having something to focus on. April looked less satisfied with the idea but they didn’t really have any other leads.
So everyone settled in. They waited.
Donatello did not come home.
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HI GUYS! I've decided that finishing this story is more important than finishing it as a comic specifically. Here's the next chapter :) <3 love you all!
